Tuesday, May 2, 2017

Tow’rs - Grey Fidelity

The
eleven song release from Arizona five piece Tow’rs, Grey Fidelity, continues in
the same vein as 2016’s The Great Minimum while further deepening the pensive
songwriting style established by the band’s earlier work. Despite the fact that
the band’s vocal and songwriting presentation largely revolves married couple
Kyle and Gretta Miller, Tow’rs never fails to sound like anything less than a
band who have been playing together for years and provide selfless and inspired
accompaniment to each other’s efforts. They are able to present their unique
point of view within recognizable forms that never aspire to imitation –
instead, they invoke the familiar with an individualistic twist and their
powerful flair for crouching otherwise quite adult subject matter within
otherwise entertaining musical frameworks. Melody is never far away on Grey
Fidelity, but it might and often does take on expressions that are outside the
normal purview of popular bands.

“Girl
in Calico” serves notice to newcomers that Tow’rs is a band who does things
their way. It isn’t a song that obeys the traditional rules of structure –
atmospherics guide the way and only instruments like Kyle Miller’s voice and
the lightly reverb-ed guitar line running through the cloud of keyboard and
synth sounds emerge with the sort of clarity you’d expect. Choosing to begin
the album with a fade in is further evidence Tow’rs follows their own Muse and
it pays off for them here. There’s a deliciously traditional feel to “Revere”
all the more impressive thanks to how thoroughly modern it continues to sound.
The vocal harmonies are very strong here. One of the album’s real aching points
comes with the demurely titled “Alright”. Even a cursory listen to the track
will convince all but the dimmest that the speakers in this song are far from
alright, but the fact they confront such bitter truths about life and
relationships strikes a chord with the album’s theme of preserving hope.

“Liminal”
is one of the more interesting songs on Grey Fidelity. It seems to betray some
traditional Americana elements, but utilizes an arrangement that will seemingly
reveal something with each new listen and has some interesting rhythmic shifts
along the way. Those same Americana elements return to the fore on “When I’m
Silent”, but their use is more selective than before and thus never exerts the
same sort of effect over the performance’s ultimate flavor. The vocal is quite
lovely despite the apparent weightiness of the subject matter. “Consolations”
is a shockingly slinky number with an artsy edge that never risks pretension.
They bring together string music influences with fill-oriented electric guitar
and expertly recorded drums that give their sound a real snap. “Revelator Man”
is full of chiming guitars and a slowly striding tempo that gives both Miller a
chance to stretch out vocally and shows off more of the subtlety defining this
album at its best. The album ends with “I Can’t Help Myself” and, despite the
enjoyable musical performance, one feels a little uncomfortable thanks to the
clear desperation coming through in both the vocal and lyric content. The
speaker, nonetheless, is still standing at the end. Catharsis comes in a lot of
ways. Tow’rs has worked through some sort of catharsis on this collection and
it results in their best recording yet.

About Me

Student at University of Oregon. Persuing a degree in Jornalism and Marketing. Writing Intern for Indie Music Media LLC based out of Seattle, WA. I enjoy writing music reviews that are informative, honest and positive.